weekly GarethB's 52 challenge for 2019 - Week 51 & 52 - CHRISTMASSY & OUTTAKES - FINISHED!

Nicely not wide!

If next weeks theme is NARROW you can photograph a Jumbl Jet :D
 
That's a cracker of a shot, plenty of detail on the gauge, great use of macro and not a shoehorn by any means.
 
Dirty
It was an idea that I had though about using, but wasn't sure how to achieve the composition i wanted. You on the other hand have got it just right, trousers aside (not literally of course).

Wide
Funnily enough, I knew what it was straight away. Not really a shoehorn, it measures the width of things.
 
Daniel_Paul said:
Nice shot for wide Gareth, great take on the theme!!
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Thank you kindly Daniel!(y)

rpn said:
Ignoring the theme, it's an excellent shot as is. Sharp and spot-on focus.
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Many thanks Stan, most appreciated!(y)

-Oy- said:
Nicely not wide!

If next weeks theme is NARROW you can photograph a Jumbl Jet :D
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Thanks Dave!(y)
I hope you're right! Although if I can't find a Jumbo, I'll have to make do with my own backside!
Not that I would know, but it's really difficult to take a picture of ones own rear end without a mirror....got thrown out of Marks & Spencers for that!:giggle:
Thank goodness that's all behind me now!:D

FlyPhot said:
That's a cracker of a shot, plenty of detail on the gauge, great use of macro and not a shoehorn by any means.
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Thank you most kindly Jim, for taking the time to look and comment, most appreciated!(y)

Nostromo said:
Dirty
It was an idea that I had though about using, but wasn't sure how to achieve the composition i wanted. You on the other hand have got it just right, trousers aside (not literally of course).

Wide
Funnily enough, I knew what it was straight away. Not really a shoehorn, it measures the width of things.
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Thank you very much Dominic, very kind of you to say!(y)

Allan.H said:
On theme for me too nice sharp macro image
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Many thanks Allan, appreciate the positive comment!(y)
 
Week 29 - Closed

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I've been testing a new macro rig recently, and today I photographed this hoverfly, loitering around a daisy in the back garden.
It was quite breezy, and because of this, my 'model' decided to close it's wings to avoid being blown away....at least that's what it looked like from my perspective.
So, may I present 'Closed wings':


hoverfly 14a by Gareth Bellamy, on Flickr

...as always, thanks for looking folks.:)
 
karate-ka said:
Really nice colourful shot, and such an obliging model. ;)
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Many thanks Ian, I appreciate the positive comment.
Indeed, they're quite patient, and thankfully they don't get angry and cannot sting you either!
It's a win-win!:D
 
Great capture, lovely colours too. :)
 
What a great image, really well taken. You've handled the purple brilliantly (a hard colour to photograph) and the macro is really good. Outstanding!
 
Dave70D said:
Now that is a cracking take and shot nicely on theme, use to love doing macros of the Hoverfly and you nailed it and a shot I`d be proud to of taken too.
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Thank you so much Dave, really appreciate the kind comment!(y)

Allan.H said:
Nice macro of the hover-fly the colour of the flower really makes it stand out
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Many thanks Allan, for the positive comment, most appreciated.(y)
 
Hi Gareth

Really great details on the hover fly, OOF Background colour works well against the purple of the flower. Is the yellow bit slightly soft, it looks strange as there is plenty of details in the petals. I can't work it out.

Pete
 
seaodyssey said:
Hi Gareth

Really great details on the hover fly, OOF Background colour works well against the purple of the flower. Is the yellow bit slightly soft, it looks strange as there is plenty of details in the petals. I can't work it out.

Pete
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Many thanks Pete, for looking and for the positive comment.(y)
I see what you mean regarding the yellow (central) part of the flower appearing much softer towards the back, than other details that appear in the same focal plane.
It indeed looks a bit strange now that I look at it again.
The only thing I can think of why this happened, is due to a combination of the paper-thin DoF and the angle the photo was taken.
Perhaps those yellow, bobbly things in the centre of the flower just take on a much softer appearance than the other colours/details....curious!
The only processing I did, was some sharpness/colour/clarity tweaks....the usual stuff.
:)
 
GarethB said:
Many thanks Pete, for looking and for the positive comment.(y)
I see what you mean regarding the yellow (central) part of the flower appearing much softer towards the back, than other details that appear in the same focal plane.
It indeed looks a bit strange now that I look at it again.
The only thing I can think of why this happened, is due to a combination of the paper-thin DoF and the angle the photo was taken.
Perhaps those yellow, bobbly things in the centre of the flower just take on a much softer appearance than the other colours/details....curious!
The only processing I did, was some sharpness/colour/clarity tweaks....the usual stuff.
:)
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I took some macro shots of some Hollyhocks and had the same appearance inside the flower, you may be right about the angle of focus causing those bits to be oof, but the petal on the left is much sharper and to me appears to be in the same or even further back.

Pete
 
seaodyssey said:
I took some macro shots of some Hollyhocks and had the same appearance inside the flower, you may be right about the angle of focus causing those bits to be oof, but the petal on the left is much sharper and to me appears to be in the same or even further back.

Pete
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It does seem odd....almost looks like a bodged stacked image (it isn't stacked!)....which wouldn't be the first time for me!!:D
I was using a 38mm macro extension tube as well, further reducing the DoF, and I guess those petals need only be a few millimetres out of 'symmetry' for one to appear sharper than the other....even at f/10.
Seems I need to up my focal plane discipline!;)
Many thanks for the detailed critique Pete, I will endeavour to be more aware of macro backgrounds now.
And perhaps I should stop down even further too - I usually try to avoid going past f/10, but my macro lens is sharp down to f/16, so that seems the way to go.(y)
 
Nice hoverfly pic - thje dof just look a bit odd at first glance but yeah - it's the focal plane and the angle of the shot.
 
rpn said:
Lovely vivid colour. You nailed the focus spot on the hoverfly wing which is your main subject.
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Thank you kindly Stan!(y)

-Oy- said:
Nice hoverfly pic - thje dof just look a bit odd at first glance but yeah - it's the focal plane and the angle of the shot.
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Many thanks Dave!(y)
Yep....bit of a duff dof! :giggle:
 
Closed
Good macro, I like the colours and the composition.
I do love macro photography, but find it very frustrating sometimes.
 
Nostromo said:
Closed
Good macro, I like the colours and the composition.
I do love macro photography, but find it very frustrating sometimes.
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Thanks Dominic, I appreciate the comment!
You're not wrong, macro insect photography is both simultaneously fascinating and infuriating!!
I was stalking a Small White (Pieris rapae) butterfly today in the garden, and the little blighter would see me coming a mile away....I didn't stand a chance!
I'm sure it was mocking me too....it would settle and lure me in, then dash my hopes by scarpering when I got within shooting range!:giggle:
Wildlife hates me!!:(
 
Hi Gareth,

Loving your shot for Wide! I think it fits the theme as they measure width. Super sharp and great lighting.
That's a stunner of a shot for closed too. Tack sharp and lovely vivid colours. :clap:
 
Leebert said:
Hi Gareth,

Loving your shot for Wide! I think it fits the theme as they measure width. Super sharp and great lighting.
That's a stunner of a shot for closed too. Tack sharp and lovely vivid colours. :clap:
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Many thanks Lee for the kind comments, most appreciated!(y)
 
Week 30 - Snappers Choice - Colour Pop Technique

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Here is my entry for the 'snappers choice'.
I thought I'd get the technique in this week too....had trouble thinking of something that didn't look too cheesy....not sure if I managed it though!
The first image is my entry - it's a heavy crop of the second image here.
The second one was a bit wide, and the selective colour process looked somewhat lost.
If I was to do it again, I would go with a tight macro shot - and I would have avoided the unbelievably tedious process of selecting most of those tiny drops too!:giggle:


colour pop 2 by Gareth Bellamy, on Flickr

....and the original image - the tiny, green drops seem to blend in, resulting in the image seemingly having an overall green tint - the colour pop is somewhat lost...


colour pop 1 by Gareth Bellamy, on Flickr

...as always, thanks for looking folks.:)
 
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BobBCN said:
Once again, stunning images. DIRTY is superb, both shots. And your free week/color pop is a cracking shot.
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Thank you most kindly Bob!:)
I was quite pleased with how DIRTY turned out after all my calibration shenanigans!:giggle:
The free image took sooo long to process!!
I had a 'Plan B' however, which I'm regretting not pursuing, though I'm reasonably pleased with the cropped version....I just wish that I'd made the drops bigger!!;)
 
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Gareth, nice macro there of the fly. Did you think about stacking the images ? I had a go last year with my Canon gear and found the results quite good in LR, I had a mad spell of taking shots of dead flys and anything else I could find that stayed still to practice. I have recently got the Fuji 80mm f2.8 macro but have t sorted my flash yet so will have to wait and see.
Your colour pop is fab ! I just live the colours in the droplets. Going to have to copy that idea for sure !
 
Very nice, it looks pretty good with the selective colour, good composition and the right choice of the two.
How long did it take to select all the droplets of water or is there some quick way to do it?
 
Dave70D said:
Free week is a great pair of images Gareth, if I had to pick one it would be #1 as love the tight close up for in your face look.
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Thank you kindly Dave!(y)
I prefer #1 also....I should have shot it like that instead of cropping it heavily, but you live and learn!:)

chrispp said:
Gareth, nice macro there of the fly. Did you think about stacking the images ? I had a go last year with my Canon gear and found the results quite good in LR, I had a mad spell of taking shots of dead flys and anything else I could find that stayed still to practice. I have recently got the Fuji 80mm f2.8 macro but have t sorted my flash yet so will have to wait and see.
Your colour pop is fab ! I just live the colours in the droplets. Going to have to copy that idea for sure !
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Many thanks Chris, for the positive comments!:)
I did consider stacking, but as you said, on stationary objects it's do-able....on live/jittery subjects, however, it's an altogether more challenging prospect!
Hoverflies do tend to be more patient than most flying things, but they never sit still for very long!

I too am testing a macro lighting setup - just bought a few cheap High Speed Sync flashes to test with rapid burst, so hopefully I'll get a handle on what it can do with my 10fps, but I suspect that anything other than lowest power, it won't be able to keep up, plus I may run into overheating issues if I push them too hard.

chrispp said:
Going to have to copy that idea for sure!
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Go for it!(y)
Word of warning though....it's monumentally time consuming and tedious, not to mention very hard on the wrist!
I suffered cramps in my wrist due to holding the mouse in certain positions and 'painting' those tiny blobs for long periods.
It is quite rewarding when you see it slowly coming together though!

michael23 said:
Very nice Gareth, both the wide and the cropped version work very well in their own ways. Glad you cropped it though as that gives a nice impact when looking at it.

Closed, Lovely picture of the hoverfly, great colours.
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Thank you most kindly Michael!(y)
Indeed, the second image lacks the impact I was looking for, plus the colour pop doesn't really work as well as in #1.

Allan.H said:
First one for me, that must have taken some time but I think worth it in the end (y)
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Many thanks indeed Allan!(y)
Yes it took bloody ages!!:giggle:
It needn't have taken so long if only I had gone with a tighter macro shot in the first place!:facepalm:

Nostromo said:
Very nice, it looks pretty good with the selective colour, good composition and the right choice of the two.
How long did it take to select all the droplets of water or is there some quick way to do it?
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Thank you very much Dominic, for the positive comment!:)
The post processing took about 4 hours in total....I can't be exact however, I think I may have blanked it due to the extreme wrist trauma I suffered!!!:LOL:
I really wish there was quick way of doing it!
There might be some neat selection trick, but I didn't find it.
I foolishly selected all the drops from the full size image first, then decided to crop afterwards, when I should have just selected the drops that would have been in the finished crop!:facepalm:
I don't think I will be making a habit of doing this process....unless I completely forget the discomfort I suffered....which is entirely likely!!:D
 
I think they're both excellent images, very creative. The selective colour looks as though it took ages, you have a lot more patience/skill than me! They both look subtly executed, well done.
 
Love your FREE one Gareth and truly admire your patience! Your selections are 'spot on' so well worth the effort.
 
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